Annual survey results summary, 2019
Every year, we invite you to complete the annual survey of parents and carers. Thank you to the 89 people who completed the 2019 survey.
The agree/disagree statements were closely based on those that Ofsted use for their Parent View. This gives you the chance to tell Ofsted what you think about your child’s school, from the quality of teaching to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour.
We also asked whether you’d recommend the school and invited comments about what you like and what we could improve on.
We’re delighted that the statements prompted a very positive response: at least 94% of parents agreed or strongly agreed (and most strongly agreed).
Particularly positive responses can be seen for a few statements, including two where responses were 100% in agreement. These relate to My child makes good progress at this school and I receive useful information from the school about my child’s progress.
Also very positive was that 98% of parents would recommend us to others.
A couple of respondents expressed concerns that seem to influence their responses throughout the survey. Sadly, the parents chose not to provide their names or explain why and this means that we’re not going to be able to try to address their concerns. If you’re one of these parents, please do consider arranging an appointment to speak with Mrs Weekes and/or me, Mr Roundtree – we’d really like to explore your views and see what we might be able to do to make things better.
The statements, with one or two typical comments, are:
- My child is happy at Moortown Primary School. (‘Both our children enjoy coming to school and have made some lovely friends.’)
- My child feels safe at this school. (‘The overall school and staff make my child feel safe.’)
- My child makes good progress at this school. (‘I can’t believe how far my reception child has come this year. It’s phenomenal’ and ‘Miss Rushbrooke is a wonderful teacher, ensuring academic progress, but with a great imagination and strong sense of fun – if only she hadn’t had to contend with SATs!’)
- My child is well looked after. (‘From teacher to headteacher, everyone cares’ and ‘Very much so…The caring culture means that the children look out for each other, too.’)
- My child is taught well at Moortown Primary School. (‘My child is taught in a fun and engaging environment and is learning to the best of her ability’ and ‘The open mornings demonstrated the high quality of teaching.’)
- Adults in school make sure pupils are well behaved. (‘It is such a great environment I have rarely heard of any trouble from pupils.’)
- Moortown Primary School deals effectively with bullying. (This is the one statement which didn’t earn a 94+% agreement, but that’s because 22% answered they didn’t know, with comments saying their child hasn’t encountered bullying: ‘We’ve had no experience but I can see that there are high expectations of behaviour’ for example.)
- The school is well led and managed. (‘Well organised, clear communication, plenty of options to feed back, connect and always an open door and time for conversation. Thank you brilliant hard working team.’)
- The school responds well to any concerns I raise. (‘All staff have been very approachable in this regard.’)
- I receive useful information from the school about my child’s progress. (‘The reports and parents evenings are very helpful.’)
Would you recommend the school? (‘We cannot speak highly enough of this school.’)
Tell us something you like about the school.
63 comments received, some of which relate to very specific reasons, but typical comments include praise for our teachers, our children’s behaviour and our community feel. ‘Nice culture and friendly inclusive environment. High quality staff and teaching. A standout is its respectful learning environment’ and ‘Caring and involved staff members. All seek to help and assist parents as well as pupils.’ are typical comments which we appreciate greatly!
Any reference here or throughout the survey to particular teachers will be passed on to teachers, who welcome the feedback as part of their commitment to performance improvement.
Tell us something the school could improve on.
55 comments received, although many of these are actually positive comments like ‘I like it the way it is. A shame we can’t opt out of SATs…’
As in previous years, the majority of comments reflect conflicting viewpoints, especially in relation to homework: some want more, some want less; some don’t like the creative homework, some don’t like the whole-school homework tasks… The conclusion, as in previous years, is that we can’t please everyone all the time about an issue like homework, but we will keep reviewing this. Interestingly this year, another example of differing opinions relate to the degree of competition in our school. Two other common issues that were raised are school dinners – we’ll pass on this feedback to our caterers – and the inconsiderate/unsafe parking of some parents/carers – we’ll continue to monitor and try to address these concerns in whatever way we can.
The survey results and the comments will be passed to Mrs Weekes, as Head of School, who will review the feedback alongside me, as Head of Federation, in order to identify up to three key actions that we will do. Mrs Weekes will also feed back to staff any particular concerns that were raised as well as – far more common – make sure staff are aware of the praise they’ve earned.
There's still time to enter...
…our 2019 Summer Competition!
Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy place to learn – and we want your child to celebrate this by creating the words ‘happy’ (for children up to Year 2) or ‘healthy’ (for children in Year 3 to Year 6) from letters that your child spots in the environment.
Here’s an example of a letter ‘h’ which we’ve found on the internet – somewhere in their surroundings, can your child find the five letters that spell ‘happy’ or the seven letters that spell ‘healthy’?
We found the example above on the internet, but it would be even better if your child were to take pics from real life – perhaps they could find all the images on one day out, or perhaps they set themselves a target of finding one letter every week of the holidays. Your child could spot ‘letters’ near their home or on holiday. They could make the letter shapes from their own body, stretched into different positions, or they could even ask different family members to create the shapes!
There will be four prizes of £15 book tokens – two for the best ‘happy’ words and two for the best ‘healthy’ words.
Please paste the words into a Word document – one side of A4 – and email to school (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) by Friday 06 September 2019.
Good luck!
Has your child been looking out for letters that spell 'happy' or 'healthy'?
Moortown Primary is a happy and healthy place to learn – and we want your child to celebrate this by creating the words ‘happy’ (for children up to Year 2) or ‘healthy’ (for children in Year 3 to Year 6) from letters that your child spots in the environment.
Here’s an example of a letter ‘h’ which we’ve found on the internet – somewhere in their surroundings, can your child find the five letters that spell ‘happy’ or the seven letters that spell ‘healthy’?
We found the example above on the internet, but it would be even better if your child were to take pics from real life – perhaps they could find all the images on one day out, or perhaps they set themselves a target of finding one letter every week of the holidays. Your child could spot ‘letters’ near their home or on holiday. They could make the letter shapes from their own body, stretched into different positions, or they could even ask different family members to create the shapes!
There will be four prizes of £15 book tokens – two for the best ‘happy’ words and two for the best ‘healthy’ words.
Please paste the words into a Word document – one side of A4 – and email to school (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) by Friday 06 September 2019.
Good luck!
Platinum!
We’re over-the-moon to announce that Moortown Primary has achieved the School Games Platinum Mark Award for the 2018/19 academic year.
The School Games Mark is a Government-led award scheme launched in 2012, facilitated by the Youth Sport Trust, to reward schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community, and we’re delighted to have been recognised for our continued success.
We’re extremely proud of our pupils for their dedication to all aspects of school sport, including those young volunteers, leaders and officials who made our competitions possible.
As part of our application, we were asked to fulfil criteria in the areas of participation, competition, workforce and clubs, and we’re pleased that the hard work of everyone at our school has been rewarded this year.
A special thanks to Mrs Taylor, our Health Leader.
We look forward to another happy and healthy year in 2019-20!
Summer holiday competition
Each year, we invite children to enter a competition – last year, we enjoyed reading lots of postcards from around Yorkshire, the UK and the world.
This year, we’d like your child to get creative with a camera! We want our school to be a happy and healthy place to learn – and we want your child to celebrate this by creating the words ‘happy’ (for children up to Year 2) or ‘healthy’ (for children in Year 3 to Year 6) from letters that your child spots in the environment.
Here’s an example of a letter ‘h’ which we’ve found on the internet – somewhere in their surroundings, can your child find the five letters that spell ‘happy’ or the seven letters that spell ‘healthy’?
We found the example above on the internet, but it would be even better if your child were to take pics from real life – perhaps they could find all the images on one day out, or perhaps they set themselves a target of finding one letter every week of the holidays. Your child could spot ‘letters’ near their home or on holiday. They could make the letter shapes from their own body, stretched into different positions, or they could even ask different family members to create the shapes!
There will be four prizes of £15 book tokens – two for the best ‘happy’ words and two for the best ‘healthy’ words.
Please paste the words into a Word document – one side of A4 – and email to school (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) by Friday 06 September 2019.
Good luck!
New school meal menu
Our new autumn/spring school meal menu, starting in September, is now available on our Meals page. It continues to follow a three week cycle.
The menu has been created in liaison with Catering Leeds to ensure it meets the School Food Standards. We have also incorporated feedback from our school cook, pupils and parents/carers. We will continue to offer meat free Monday on one out of the three weeks.
Pupils will continue to make their daily food choices at the start of the day to ensure they receive their first choice of main meal.
If you would like a paper copy of the menu, please ask at the office.
School Savings Club paying in session
The next School Saving Club paying in date is 10 July 2019 at 3.15-3.45pm.
If your child opened an account in our Money Matters themed week, this would be a great chance to start their saving journey.
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
This is the final paying in date for this year and dates for next year will be shared in September.
If your child would like to open an account, please ask at the office.
Sports day 4th July
We are looking forward to welcoming you to our annual sports day tomorrow. Here is some information about the day.
Location
Our sports day will take place offsite at Roundhegians Rugby Club (LS8 2AT). Access to the club is off Chelwood Drive and there is some parking available. Children will be walking to the field, escorted by adults. Thank you to those parents/carers who have offered to help with this. We will be leaving school at 9:05am for KS2 and 1:05pm for Reception and KS1.
Timings
The Key Stage 2 Sports Day will begin at 9.30am ending at approximately 11:30am and the Reception and Key Stage 1 sports day will start at 1.30pm ending at approximately 3 pm.
Normal lunch time and end of school collection arrangements will still apply on this day.
PE kit
Our teams will be: green, blue, white and red and your child/children has been told their team colour by their class teacher. If possible, please could your child wear a t-shirt to match their team colour. If your child does not have a coloured t-shirt, they should wear their white PE top and they will be given a bib to wear.
Children should come to school in their PE kit to be worn for the whole day.
On the day
Please could you ensure your child has their water bottle and a cap/hat at school; it would also be useful if you could apply sun cream before your child comes to school.
Events
The format of this year’s event will be competitive races and field events (KS2) with children having the opportunity to compete for medals. These will be awarded by staff and sports leaders from Allerton Grange, who will be placed on the finish line. No VAR this year, unfortunately! However, all children will be rewarded for taking part.
We expect each child to take part in at least two events. Some may take part in more depending on how many children are in their team. As far as is possible, we have tried to place children in events of their choice.
Seating
No seating is provided so please bring a rug or your own chairs if you come to spectate.
Gazebos
Thank you to those parents/carers who are able to bring gazebos on the day. Any additional gazebos would be welcome, to shade the children, if you can help with this.
Refreshments
The PTA will be selling refreshments for parents and carers on the day.
Photos
You are welcome to take photos on the day. These should be for your own use and as we have children in school who cannot be photographed please do not share these photos on social media.
Safety
For safety reasons, please do not cross the track to where the children are seated – thank you.
Showcase of skipping skills
Thank you to all parents, carers and family who came along to see the fantastic skipping skills on display at our recent skipping assembly.
Jodi, from Skipping School, provided skipping sessions for Reception class, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6 throughout the day and it was great to see all the new skills learnt. Year 2 and Year 4 have already been involved in their skipping projects this year and have taken part in festivals representing the school.
Skipping is one of the ways we encourage the children to achieve their 30 active minutes at school by providing short and long ropes at playtime and lunchtime.
If you didn’t get chance to buy a skipping rope after the assembly, we do have some available for sale. Please come to the Year 2 classroom on Monday or Tuesday, after school, if you would like to purchase one.
Wimbledon themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Tuesday 9th July. Please contact the office, as soon as possible, if your child would like a school meal on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day). Subject to the weather on the day, we hope the children can enjoy this picnic themed meal outside.
